Hara Hara Shankara, Jaya Jaya Shankara

Saturday, June 6, 2015

What is KARMA and what is Grace?.
A seeker of knowledge and truth always encounters this confusion in the
beginning of his quest for the ABSOLUTE.

If
everything is because of our Karma, then why pray GOD. IF everything is Grace,
then why act? Two contrasting yet sensible questions!!! Let us try and
understand the difference and try to see which is correct.

Our vedas have
laid out rules and regulations for us to lead a happy and contented life. Each
act that it prescribes fetches us punya (goodness) or papam (sin). If one acts
according to the prescription of the vedas, it is dharmam. If not, we get
papam. The choice is ours – To choose to follow or not follow the rules.

All of us
carry a bag of karma on our backs. There are three kinds of karma. Sanchita
karma, prarabda karma and aagamika karma. What we have accumulated in all our
previous births or current birth is called sanchita karma. That karma for which
we undergo happiness and sorrow in the current life is called prarabda karma.
That karma which we accumulate in future is called aagamika karma.

For example, a
student fails in his exams. The reason may be because of his previous karma of
not studying. It could be that he studied and still failed. This may be because
of his past karma in previous birth(s)(sanchita karma). The act of failing is
called prarabda karma. The reaction to the failure fetches him aagamika karma.
If he chooses to react in anger or frustration or any negative reaction, it
fetches him some kind of karma. On the other hand, if he is equipoised in this
failure, he gets a different kind of karma. So, all our karma is determined by
how we react to situations. This shows that everything is in our hands. It is our
decision and only our actions that fetches us good or bad. In other words, we
are responsible for what we are.

Then what is
GOD’s role?

GOD gives us
knowledge and creates opportunities for us. It is up to us to act on it. In
other words, he is only a witness to all our actions. If we get a knife in our
hands, we can either cut a fruit or kill a person. We cannot kill a person and
claim that it was GOD’s will. We see in our daily lives that some people are
extremely successful. Many people flourish than many others. It may be that the
less talented are less flourishing. It may seem that the less privileged are
more happy. The reason for these differences is one’s own Karma.

Our shastras
says that birth is anaadi i.e. there is no beginning or end to life. Yes, it is
difficult to comprehend. That is because, our mind is not tuned to think such
complex and high ideals. But that is the truth. SO, our bag of karma is always
non-empty. All we have is the free will which we use to do good or bad. The
mind plays an important role in deciding our actions. For every action, we
accumulate the good karma or bad karma and our bag starts filling up. At the
end of the birth, we go to heaven or hell and pay for the good or the bad we
have done. So, if one has done only good actions, he will go indra loka or
satya loka (where brahma resides) where he uses his good karma to enjoy the
heavens. If he has done only papam, then he will be pushed into one of the
seven hells, where he completes his bag of bad karma. But for all of us, ti
will be a mix of good and bad in which case he spends part time in heaven and
the other in hell. When he has exhausted his karma, he will be pushed to the
earth for a re-birth. Only those whose karma bag is empty, does not take
re-birth. So, when a person has exhausted his karma by going to hell and heaven
his bag is empty, why then does he take birth. He still have the bag with
desires. All that is desired in the previous life must be fulfilled. GOD is all
merciful. He doesn’t disappoint anyone. If I aspire to become a doctor in this
birth and I don’t become one , I may probably become one the next birth or 100
births later. Whatever small desires we have in any birth, will be undoubtedly
fulfilled. So, when we take ibrth based on our desires too.

Then what is grace? If GOD does
not have a role to play in our lives, why prayers and why temples and why
offerings? Consider this situation. I am an expert driver. One day, I want to
go to some place which is quite far. My
father offers to come along. So, the two of us set out. Father being an
expirienceed person and more aware of the road topography, one-ways, short cuts
and other details, he steps in to offer his suggestion of the route to be
taken. But I consider myself to be an expert driver. I give a damn care to what father says. I shut his
mouth and set off. On the way, I come across many changes in the roads and get
confused. My father again offers to help me out but I have my own ego to do
things on my own. Finally I get lost and do not know what to do. I then look up
to my father for help which he gladly does. He takes me to through the easiest
and best path and helps me reach my destination. This is exactly what we are
doing in our lives. GOD is ready to help us. But we think we are greater than
him and set out to achieve things. We side line his presence and think we are
the doers. But when we get problems , we turn to him hoping he will help us.
Indeed, he does. If we would have surrendered to him completely, he WILL take
care of us but we are not ready to do so.

Even when draupadi was dis-robed, she
thought she would fight herself. She argued with all the elders in the sabha.
It was only when she was totally helpless, she called out to Krishna and HE
came. So, he won’t come unless called with an absolute sense of surrender. Many
saints and acharyas have lived the life of total surrender. Purandara dasa,
meera bai, adi shankara, ramanuja, tukaram – the list is endless.

Even in today's world, HE does
help us but we fail to realise the same. Does that mean, if we totally
surrender, we need not work at all. Absolutely right. You don’t have to move an
inch if you have total surrender. But the surrender must be total – 100%. There
are many stories which have shown that absolute surrender has worked wonders.
For example, when hiranyakashipu tortured prahlada, the little child never
cried or feared or asked any mortal for help. HE simply smiled and accepted
what was given to him. Lord Narayan protected him. That is the kind of Bhakti
we need to develop. Bhakti must mature into brahma gnana. It is only then that
you fuse with the Lord and attain eternal bliss.

How do we develop absolute
surrender. Well, it is a long long journey of births before we get to that
state. It all starts with karma yoga. Lord Kirshna has elaborated the essence
of karma yoga very beautifully in the 2nd chapter

sukha dukhe
same’ kritva |

labha labhou
jaya jayou ||

tatho yuddhaya
yujyasva |

naivam papam
avapsyasi || (2.38)

Meaning:
Having an equal mind in happiness-sorrow; gain-loss; victory-defeat; engage in
battle and thereby you will not incur sin.In essence, Karma
Yoga refers to doing one’s prescribed karma without expecting a return. Karma
yoga is a separate world that can be introspected more (maybe in my next post).
The karma Yoga must mature into bhakti. Bhakti must enter jnana yoga and then
into the state of eternal bliss.

So, in summary, what we are today
is because of our actions alone. GOD is in no way responsible to our state. But
if we totally surrender , than HE takes the full responsibility of our well-being.
In that state, though the surrendered person seems to be suffering in the eyes
of the world, the surrendered self will not feel the pain. As someone said,
there will be pain but no suffering. That is the difference between KARMA and
grace.

The discussion gets very
interesting as we ponder and introspect more. More in my next post